Monday, August 6, 2007

Infant Mortality NYC 1907; Oil markets 2007

The increase in New York's death rate in the last two weeks over the corresponding two weeks of 1906 has swelled the death list of New York City to 3,615 against 2,907 last year. In the seven days ended last Saturday there were 1,804 deaths in the five boroughs: 1,653 of these deaths were those of children under 5 years old. In the corresponding week last year but 1,156 children under 5 years died.

Dr. Guilfoy of the Board of Health, commenting on the increase in infant mortality, said that the improper feeding of infants was to blame.

"We have been trying to teach the mothers in the poorer sections of the city not to feed their infants meat and unripe fruit in the Summer. We have made considerable progress among the mothers..."

If the numbers are correct, the infant mortality accounted for 92% of all deaths in New York City during this week in 1907!! Without doing any research on this topic, I am confident that infant mortality in NYC during the same week in 2007 was considerably lower. Wow - what a difference 100 years has made.

And the oil market got spanked, making this post look less dumb than it would have had a Cat 5 headed for Houston:

"I've never been good at trading a market in backwardation so I usually stay away.

For the last week though I've had a nagging suspicion that oil was lulling the bulls into a false sense of security, sucking in the hedgies (who aren't), come on in the water's fine. And silliness like this:"...